Timber connectors and/or machines for making the same

ABSTRACT

A machine for making timber connectors from wire having a central portion with spikes turned at right angles to the central portion and mutually at right angles to each other, has cutting means which cuts lengths of wire from a roll and deposits the wire in forming dies and forms the wire to the required shape by rotation of a rotary head, with the ends of the wire being manipulated automatically so that the points of the wire are straightened, the spikes turned to form a U shape and one spike is then twisted relative to the other to take up the aforesaid right angled relationship and the connectors then discharged.

United States Patent 1 Dagley TIMBER CONNECTORS AND/OR MACHINES FOR MAKING THE SAME [75] Inventor: Edgar Edward Dagley, Auckland,

New Zealand [73] Assignee: Automated Building Components New Zealand Limited, Auckland, New Zealand [22] Filed: June 19, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 264,702

[52] US. Cl. 10/52, 10/43 [51] Int. Cl. B2lg 3/20 [58] Field of Search 10/43, 52, 54;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 362,530 5/1887 Parmelee 59/76 755,755 3/1904 1,175,567 3/1916 1,187,472 6/1916 2,634,576 4/1953 Seibel 59/76 51- Dec. 4, 1973 2,679,723 6/1954 Marano 59/76 2,777,283 l/l957 Marano 59/76 3,339,390 9/1967 Sommer 72/133 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 76,631 12/1937 Czechoslovakia 10/43 Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-E. M. Combs Attorney-John C. Holman et al.

[5 7 1 ABSTRACT A machine for making timber connectors from wire having a central portion with spikes turned at right angles to the central portion and mutually at right angles to each other, has cutting means which cuts lengths of wire from a roll and deposits the wire in forming dies and forms the wire to the required shape by rotation of a rotary head, with the ends of the wire being manipulated automatically so that the points of the wire .are straightened, the spikes turned to form a U shape and one spike is then twisted relative to the other to take up the aforesaid right angled relationship and the connectors then discharged.

12 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENT-EU C 4 I975 SHEET 1 BF 3 TIMBER CONNECTORS AND/OR MACHINES FOR MAKING THE SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to timber connectors and/or machines for making the same and is a continuation in part of the timber connector and/or machine described in our application Ser. No. 19,387 nowabandoned.

In building, it is frequently desirable to fix two members mutually at right angles to each other and, although metal plates have been made in the past which have spikes cracked out of the parent metal which engage with the two pieces of timber, these are somewhat expensive to produce.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a timber connector and/or a machine for making the same, which timber connector will be cheap to produce on the machine, yet effective in use, or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Accordingly, in one aspect, the invention consists in a machine for making a timber connector from a length of wire, the timber connector being of the type having an elongated intermediate piece of given length and portions at the ends thereof forming spikes disposed substantially at right angles to the intermediate piece and being arranged to lie with their respective axes at right angles to each other, said machine comprising a frame, a feed means for wire, said feed means being adapted to feed the wire from a continuous length thereof, cutting means adapted to cut lengths of wire in a manner such that the ends thereof are pointed, forming means adapted to have a length of wire fed through a groove thereof, forming guides associated with said forming means, movement of the forming means relative to the forming guides bending the length of wire substantially into a U-shape with the two portions near the ends thereof forming spikes and lying in the same plane but separated by an intermediate piece, each spike being at a substantial right angle to the axes of the intermediate piece and twisting means adapted to twist the two ends relative to each other about the axis of the intermediate piece so that the spikes lie with their axes substantially at right angles to each other.

One preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a timber connector according to the invention;

FIG. 1A is an end view of a timber connector shown in FIG. 1

FIG. 1B is a side elevation of a timber connector shown in FIG. 1

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a machine for making the connectors according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are perspective views from opposite ends of forming die blocks;

FIG. 5 is a part cross-section on the line A-A FIG.

FIG. 6 is a partly diagrammatic sectional view on the line B-B of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a part cross-section on the line C-C FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The'invention is intended to provide a machine and a timber connector I made thereby. The timber connector 1 (FIG. 1) comprises a length of rod, bar or wire, preferably wire, which is formed first to a U-shape such that the spikes so formed lie at an angle of between 8 to 15 and preferably 10 less than a right angle to the intermediate portion, and then twisted so that the two arms 2 and 3 of the U are in planes at right angles to each other. The ends 4 of the spikes so formed are pointed and in use the timber connector is driven into one timber member and then rotated on this member so that the other spike may be driven into a suitably positioned adjacent timber member, with the two members, for example, comprising a plate on top of studs in a house, and the other member comprising a truss erected on the plate.

A machine to construct the foregoing timber connectors is made as follows.

A frame 5 is provided with a pair of longitudinal members 6 or a surface disposedat a convenient height for example, bench height. Mounted on such longitudinal members is a feed means arranged to feed wire 7 from a coil 8 thereof along the longitudinal axis of the frame. Such feed means includes a wire straightening device 9 of usual form, that is to say, one comprising a plurality of grooved rollers disposed some on one side and some on the other side of a line along which the wire passes, with the wire being straightened as it passes between the grooved rollers. The feed means also include a stepping feed motion, and to drive this feed motion and to drive the remaining parts of the machine, an electric motor 10 is provided, driving a reduction gear box 11 which has shafts extending from both sides. On one of these shafts, a right angle gear box 31 is mounted for driving a roller 12 havingan interrupted surface with a raised curved surface 13. The roller 12 is suitably journalled in a sub-frame l4, and mounted below the roller 12 is a further roller 15 mounted in journals 16 adjustably positioned on slides 17, and adjusted toward and away from the roller 12 by bolts 18. The rollers 12 and 15 are adjusted to punch a wire 7 when the curved surface 13 is adjacent the curved surface 19 of the roller 15, thus affording an intermittent feed.

The wire 7 then passes through a cutting means arranged to cut the wire so that the ends thereof are pointed. To this end, a reciprocating shear 22 is arranged at an angle to the line of the wire so that the wire is cut at such an angle to provide a suitable point. The shear 22 is operated through an operating arm 23 by a cam lever 24 actuated by a cam 25. The wire 7 then passes to a rotating forming means, and to this end, a shaft 26 is mounted parallel to the line of movement of the wire, but spaced below the line of movement and on this shaft, there is mounted a short cylinder 27. The short cylinder is fixed to the shaft 26, and this shaft is driven by a ratchet wheel 28 and ratchet device 29 driven from an opposite shaft 30 of the reduction gear box 11 to that driving the gear box 31. The reduction gear box 11 also drives a cam plate 32 which is freely mounted on the shaft 26, this drive being effected by a chain drive 33. The cam plate 32 has cams including a cam 25 mounted on the surface thereof which faces the rotating forming means, and the cam 25 operates the cam lever 24 connected by the link 23 to the operating member of the shear 22 so that at each revolution of the cam plate 32, a piece of wire is sheared off from the length of wire. The remaining cams will be referred to later.

The rotatable forming head is provided with a series of dies 35 and, if for example, as in the prototype there are six discs, then the ratchet wheel 28 has six teeth. The cam plate 32 rotates one revolution for one sixth of a revolution of the ratchet wheel, so that for each forming die presented to collect a piece of wire fed by the feeding means, the cam plate makes one rotation causing one cycle of events to occur as will be described further later.

Each forming die 35 is placed on the cylindrical surface of the short cylinder, and is bolted in place with a step welded to the surface of the short cylinder to resist the forces necessary to form the wire into a timber connector as will be described further below. Each forming die 35 is of substantially rectangular form. A groove 36 is provided on the outer surface and two grooves 37 and 38 on the two ends, with these grooves therefore providing a U-shape composite groove. The sides of the end grooves extend slightly on the trailing edge of the groove as compared with the sides on the leading edges of the end grooves, and an adjacent part 39 of the forming block is narrower in width than the distance between the sides of the grooves on the trailing side of the grooves. A plate 40 may extend below the block to catch a spike 3 as will be described later.

On the outside towards either end of the rotating short cylinder 27 and die blocks 35, and close to a curved surface 41 of the latter is a guide means 42 adapted to keep a piece of wire 7 in the grooves 36 of the die blocks 35. These stationary guide means 42 are provided towards either end of the short cylinder having internally curved surfaces 43 which, in use, retain the wire 7 and partly formed connectors in the grooves 36 on the outer surface of the die blocks. Each die block, when it is in its uppermost position, will be re ferred to herein as being at station one, and each sue ceerling station of the die block will be numbered from two to six in the following.

The cutting of the wire tends to twist the wire slightly and, accordingly, while the connector is in the die block, point straightening means are provided as follows:

Straightening punches 44 (FIG. 6) are provided parallel to the shaft 26, and these punches comprise rods having hardened ends with coned orifices 45 and swarf holes 46 One punch is driven directly from a further cam 47 on the cam plate 32, and the other punch is driven through a tappet 48 and rocker arm 49 by a cam 50 on the cam plate 32. The two cams 47 and 50 are arranged so that operation of the punches is effected substantially simultaneously, and this is effected at station two while the length of wire is still straight, with the pointed end of the wire enters entering the coned orifices of the punches, and this straightens the points. Return springs 51 are provided, and the passageways lead from orifices 45 to the back of the tool through which any swarf can be freed from the tools. At station two, locating means are provided to locate the wire endwise, and these comprise a pair of knife edges 52 adjusted by threads and locknuts 53 to the surface of the curve of the die block, so that the wire is jammed between the base of the groove and the knife edge 52. This prevents the points straightening mechanism from displacing the wire lengthwise. Disposed on either side of the short cylinder 27, is a roller 54 and each roller has its axis on a radius parallel to a radius of the short cylinder. The rollers 54 are spring loaded so that they are movable in a plane parallel to the axis of the short cylinder with the springs arranged to bias the rollers 54 towards each other and so that the distance between the surface of each roller 54 is substantially equal to the length of the forming dies 35 carried by the short cylinder 27. The rollers 54 are positioned to engage the ends of the wire 7 protruding from the forming dies 35 as the short cylinder rotates, and to bend then slightly more than relative to the center portion of the wire in the groove of the forming die 35 carrying the wire 7. The rollers 54 are, of course, forced apart by the forming die 35 and, as further rotation of the cylinder 27 takes place, the rollers54 under pressure from the springs, move towards each other, bending the wire to form a U shaped member, and the end portions of the spikes 2 and 3 on the connector. The angle is between 8 to 15 greater than 90, preferably 10 greater, so that the spikes now lie at an angle between 8 and 15 and preferably l0 less than a right angle to the central portion. The radius of curvature at the bend between the intermediate portion and the spiked ends is about one sixteenth of an inch. Also, before the die block reaches station 3, the spike on one side, e.g., the left hand end away from the feed means, enters a slot 55 in a star wheel 56, which comprises a freely rotatable wheel having suitably shaped slots in the edge thereof. A spring loaded guide 57 on the right hand side of the cylinder 27 forces the appropriate spike to the left clear of the plate 40 to maintain the desired contact with the star wheel. The slots 55 of the star wheel 56 are of a shape such that as a spike of a connector enters a slot 55, the star wheel will be rotated, but the spike will be constrained to be turned through a right angle. Hence, this star wheel may have slots which are V shaped with the point of the V at the base of the slot, and directed to a circle which is, for example, about 1% inches in di ameter, and the V-shape is extended on one side so that the mouth of the slot is widened at this point. As stated, between stations 3 and 4, the star wheel turns the con nector through 90. After the connector has been turned 90, a further guide means 58 on the left hand side now forces the connector to the right, which frees the connector from the star wheel after it has been turned to 90 and the freed spike locks against a shoulder 59 (FIG. 3) in the die block 35, or where the plate 40 is fitted against the plate 40 reducing the amount of endwise movement required to be produced by the guide means 58. The guide means 58 comprises a plate mounted in a substantially vertical plane inclined to the plane of rotation of the left hand spike and positioned such that the spike, rotating with the short cylinder 27, is moved over the inclined surface of the guide means 58 and the connector is caused to move to the right to engage the spike against the shoulder 59 or the plate 40. The opposite spike is now free, and is twisted by engaging and passing below a roller 60 and a guide 61 which prevents the spike from slipping over the end of the roller 60. The twist is more than 90 so that the spring back due to the resilience of the material enables the finished products to have the spikes at substantially 90 to each other. These operations conclude at station four and the finished product is ejected at station five simply by gravity down a chute 62, although a mechanical ejector 63 may be fitted at station six to eject any which have not fallen off. 7

The operation of the machine is as follows:

A coil of wire 8, for example, No. 8 or No. 10 galvanized wire, is mounted on the feeding means and led through the straightening means 9 and through rollers 12 and 15 to the shear means 22, where by hand operation or otherwise, the first point is made. The machine is then set in operation, and the following sequence of events occurs. g

The rollers 12 and 15 rotate to pull the wire from the coil through the straightening means to the shearing means. This movementis, of course, synchronized so that a length of wire is pulled through the shearing means, and into a slot 36 on top of the die block 35 positioned and stationary at station one at this time. The cam plate 32 then operates the shear to cut a length of wire off, and as soon as this has occurred, a length of wire is resting in the slot 36 in the die block, and this die block is then rotated through one sixth of a revolution to station two. At the station two, the points are straightened by operation of the straightening punches 44 which are driven forward by thecams 47 and 50 on the cam plate 32, and rearwardly by the springs 51. Between stations two and three, the spikes 2 and 3 are turned to less than a right angle to the center portion by the fixed roller to form the connector to a U-shape,

and the end of one spike enters a slot 55 of the star wheel 56. Between stations three and four, the star wheel 56 turns the connector through 90, the right hand guide 57 maintaining contact of the spike in the star wheel and, after being turned 90, the left hand guide 58 pushes the connector to the right, locking the left hand spike in the die block 35, or against the plate 40 and the right hand spike is turned somewhat more than 90 by the right hand roller 60 and guide 61, with the resilience of the wire retaining" the spike to a plane substantially 90 from the plane of the left hand spike. The connector is then delivered by gravity at station five, down the chute 62. It will be clear that thesequence of operations on only one die block has been described above, and that as each succeeding die block reaches station one, it will have a piece of wire inserted therein, and will also follow the above sequence.

Thus, discharge is effected by the connectors falling off the die blocks before the die blocks reach the position where feed is effected and, accordingly, feed is effected on an upper die block, rather than a lower die block. If a connector sticks, then the extractor 63 operates at station 6.

The above described the making of a right-hand and a left hand connector may be made by reversing the twisting assembly, i.e., by reversing the left and right hand references above.

A brake shoe lining 64 frictionally contacts the curved surface of the die blocks to fix the position of the short cylinder after the ratchet means has moved the short cylinder to the station points.

The machine will operate at approximately to 100 revolutions per minute, i.e., revolutions of the cam plate per minute, and from 25 to 100 connectors per minute will be made.

I claim:

1. A machine for making a timber connector from a length of wire, the timber connector being of the type having an elongated intermediate piece of given length and portions at the ends thereof forming spikes disposed substantially at right angles to the intermediate piece and being arranged to lie with their respective axes at'right angles to each other,'said machine comprisinga frame, a feed means for wire,said feed means feeding the wire from a continuous length thereof, cutting means for cutting lengths of wire so that the ends thereof are pointed, rotating forming means provided with a groove for receiving a length of wire fed thereto by said feeding means, forming guides operably associated with said forming means, with rotation of the forming means relative to the forming guides bending the length of wire received in said groove substantially into a U-shape with the two portions near the ends thereof forming spikes and lying in the same plane but separated by an intermediate piece, each spike being at a substantial right angle to the axes of the intermediate piece and twisting means for twisting the two ends relative to each other about the axis of the intermediate piece so that the spikes lie with their axes substantially at right angles to each other.

2. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said forming means comprise a short cylinder rotatably mounted on said frame and carrying a plurality of forming dies, each die being parallel to the axis of rotation, but radially extending therefromwith said groove spaced longitudinally on the face thereof, and in which said forming guides comprise rollers positioned to bend said end portions to slightly over a right angle relative to the intermediate portion, with the sides of each die block being cut away to the desired angle.

3. The machine as claimed in claim 1 including point straightening means to shape the points of the connector. v

4. The machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein said point straightening means comprises, for each point, a sloped recess in a die and reciprocating means to reciprocate the dies over the ends of each piece of wire, and holding means to hold the piece of wire during operation of said dies.

5. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cutting means comprises a cam operated shearing means to cut a piece of wire from the supply thereof with a diagonal shearing cut.

6. The machine as claimed in claim 2, including a ratchet mechanism for intermittently rotating said short cylinder.

7. The machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein said short cylinder is mounted on a shaft carrying a cam plate, said cam plate having cams for reciprocating said cutting and point straightening means.

8. The machine as claimed in claim 1 including a freely rotatable star wheel disposed so that as said rotating forming means rotates, said U-shaped timber connector is rotated through by said star wheel, said twisting means including roller means for twisting one spike of the connector substantially 90 relative the second spike while the latter is held in the forming means.

9. The machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein the forming die 'of said forming means is further provided with two side grooves interconnected at right angles to said longitudinal groove which lies, parallel to the axis of the short cylinder forming part of the forming means, the spikes being formed by the die passing between two guide rollers biased towards each other which bend the spikes at right angles to the intermediate portion of the connector, and the connector being then turned through 90 and moved to one side, so that one arm is held in said groove while the other arm is operated on by said twisting means.

10. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said feed means comprise a pair of rollers, a driven one of which rollers has an interrupted surface arranged to pinch the wire in the nip of the rollers when an enlarged diameter part of the interrupted surface roller is adjacent the other roller to give an intermittent feeding effect which is synchronized with the other motions of the machine. 

1. A machine for making a timber connector from a length of wire, the timber connector being of the type having an elongated intermediate piece of given length and portions at the ends thereof forming spikes disposed substantially at right angles to the intermediate piece and being arranged to lie with their respective axes at right angles to each other, said machine comprising a frame, a feed means for wire, said feed means feeding the wire from a continuous length thereof, cutting means for cutting lengths of wire so that the ends thereof are pointed, rotating forming means provided with a groove for receiving a length of wire fed thereto by said feeding means, forming guides operably associated with said forming means, with rotation of the forming means relative to the forming guides bending the length of wire received in said groove substantially into a U-shape with the two portions near the ends thereof forming spikes and lying in the same plane but separated by an intermediate piece, each spike being at a substantial right angle to the axes of the intermediate piece and twisting means for twisting the two ends relative to each other about the axis of the intermediate piece so that the spikes lie with their axes substantially at right angles to each other.
 2. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said forming means comprise a short cylinder rotatably mounted on said frame and carrying a plurality of forming dies, each die being parallel to the axis of rotation, but radially extending therefrom with said groove spaced longitudinally on the face thereof, and in which said forming guides comprise rollers positioned to bend said end portions to slightly over a right angle relative to the intermediate portion, with the sides of each die block being cut away to the desired angle.
 3. The machine as claimed in claim 1 including point straightening means to shape the points of the connector.
 4. The machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein said point straightening means comprises, for each point, a sloped recess in a die and reciprocating means to reciprocate the dies over the ends of each piece of wire, and holding means to hold the piece of wire during operation of said dies.
 5. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cutting means comprises a cam operated shearing means to cut a piece of wire from the supply thereof with a diagonal shearing cut.
 6. The machine as claimed in claim 2, including a ratchet mechanism for intermittently rotating said short cylinder.
 7. The machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein said short cylinder is mounted on a shaft carrying a cam plate, said cam plate having cams for reciprocating said cutting and point straightening means.
 8. The machine as claimed in claim 1 including a freely rotatable star wheel disposed so that as said rotating forming means rotates, said U-shaped timber connector is rotated through 90* by said star wheel, said twisting means including roller means for twisting one spike of the connector substantially 90* relative the second spike while the latter is held in the forming means.
 9. The machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein the forming die of said forming means is further provided with two side grooves interconnected at right angles to said longitudinal groove which lies, parallel to the axis of the short cylinder forming part of the forming means, the spikes being formed by the die passing between two guide rollers biased towards each other which bend the spikes at right angles to the intermediate portion of the connector, and the connector being then turned through 90* and moved to one side, so that one arm is held in said groove while the other arm is operated on by said twisting means.
 10. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said feed means comprise a pair of rollers, a driven one of which rollers has an interrupted surface arranged to pinch the wire in the nip of the rollers when an enlarged diameter part of the interrupted surface roller is adjacent the other roller to give an intermittent feeding effect which is synchronized with the other motions of the machine.
 11. The machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said cutting means cuts the wire at an acute angle to the axis of the wire to form a point, and the forming guides bend the spikes at an angle of 8* to 10* less than a right angle relative to the intermediate piece.
 12. The machine as defined in claim 9 wherein the guide rollers bend the spikes at an angle of between 8* to 15* less than a right angle relative to the intermediate piece. 